Cabinet Doors.

I looked up the other day at the faux etched glass ceiling panels in an elevator, and remembered when, years ago, I decided that it would be really nice to have a similar effect in the cabinet doors in the kitchen. So I gleaned a piece of lighting plastic at the ReStore, but it was too flimsy and broke. Then I gleaned 5 etched glass window panes, and have been saving them carefully for years, making sure they didn't get broken.

 I put them together with peg joints. The openings are the size of the glass panes.

 The rest of the scraps I ran through the table saw twice made a rabit mitered corner frame for each pane.

 However, I didn't have a miter box, so my joints are a bit uneven, so I made some filler putty with sawdust from sanding the doors and wood glue.

Vanish and assembly

Panes held in with nails... the old fashioned way. Salvaged hardware.

 Here they are!

 The Steve Keene paintings in the back!

Salvaging in the Emerald City Land of Plenty.

 I needed 6 knock-out pin hinges to complete my work cupboard project, and they don't make hinges like that any more really. At least not that don't cost your first born child in exchange. But the tumbled down shed nestled beside the scuppernong vineyard is full of old doors and shutters, the wood rotting away and the metal rusting. I sit and look out the picture window and drink coffee melting into the bucolic scene everyday, so I peered in a window to get a glimpse, asked to go inside, and I was made welcome to glean in there for the parts I am looking for.

 I found everything and more! Hinges, door latches, two cat legs, and this cool spring catch from the bottom of an old ironing board.

 Naval jelly, chops sticks, a tooth brush... no more rust. A layer of clear coat spray enamel, and they are ready to use..just need to build the table/doors now!

 I found two rough planed left overs from a cedar milling in the burn pile, two pieces about 3/8th of an inch thick, perfect for the faces of the door/table. The other materials I have to work with are the trusty light weight free pallets from the coffee roaster.

 I cut a dado in the crossing frame boards to receive a wooden rod to help hold the two doors flush when they are joined as a table.

 I made multiple passes on the table saw and then cleaned the dadoes out with my chisel and hammer.

Clamps + glue + screws. I used the table saw the true up the side of the cedar pieces and fixed them to the frame as the fronts. Looks really good with a coat of varnish. 

 When set up as a table it gives enough room between it and the window that I can sit between them, and thus not block passage through the house if I am working.

Here's the cupboard with the doors on and closed, the corner empty.

 Doors open, furniture in situ.

New bathroom door catch and key hole escutcheon plate to cover a screw hole from the hook and eye latch I had there till now, and a detail.corner shot.

One last Home and garden shot.

So, here at the end of this post: I finished my cupboard yesterday, the last major piece of furniture in my house. I have been staring at the empty space where it now sits for years, figuring out how it should be. Visualizing. With what seems like a dusting together of my hands, here it is! I used to have my camp stove set up on a piece of metal (now under the stove) in that corner. Now I've got a bad case of the "sit-&-stare"s. I get to live here in this beautiful place?!